Islanders Face Sam Houston in Battle of Second-Place Teams

The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi Volleyball team will look to take sole possession of second place in the Southland Conference on Thursday night when it battles Sam Houston State in a league match.

The Islanders (16-6, 8-2 Southland) will take on Sam Houston State (13-9, 8-2 Southland) in the Bearkats' on-campus arena, Johnson Coliseum. The Bearkats earned the victory in the first meeting between the two teams.

The Sept. 22 match was also the last time the Islanders lost a match, having won seven straight heading into the showdown on Thursday after a 3-0 sweep of Texas – Pan American on Tuesday night.

Leading Texas A&M – Corpus Christi into the match will be senior Shannon Hullum and her team-high 226 kills. The Islanders have an offensive attack across the entire spectrum of classes as sophomore Brianna Brink (197), freshman Ivy Baresh (181) and junior Brooke Alverson (140) have all reached the century mark in kills. Junior Logen Bourque leads the team with 754 assists, while junior Micah Nolan has 328 digs to pace the Islanders. Baresh is second with 230 and Bourque rounds out the top three with 171 digs on the year.

Sam Houston is led by defending Offensive Player of the Week Devene Well-Gibson and her conference best 318 kills. Kendall Cleveland has 241 kills for second place, while Kaylee Hawkins (148), Haley Neisler (133) and Kim Black (115) have all gone over 100 kills on the season. Tyler Gray has a team-high 838 assists on the offensive side, while Gray also leads five Bearkats over 100 digs with 274 on the season.